Sumo and Space

The more time that passes, the more I realize just how much I experienced during my first year in Hiroshima. This past weekend Casey and I brought a group of 26 English teachers down to the southern island of Kyushu to watch sumo and visit a theme park called Spaceworld. This trip marked our third time watching sumo, which is really something you only need to do once... but is always a great excuse to get together with friends and enjoy a few drinks while watching very big men in diaper-like cloths! Always a great time!

At 10am on Saturday morning we climbed into our rented bus and headed down to Kyushu. Apart from the continual pirate jokes (everything with "-ar" just had to turn into "-arghhhhh!"), the 4.5 hour ride down was pretty uneventful, with everyone saving their energy for the crazy night to come. After arriving at the Fukuoka International Center (the home of the Fukuoka sumo tournament), Brian strapped on that handy "Canadian" beer cooler from Mom and Dad and we began distributing tasty beverages! GAME ON!

At this point Casey and I decided we had done our jobs as tour organizers, and so we treated ourselves to a few well-deserved chu-hi's (basically vodka coolers... but still very different, kind of hard to explain). Well, after indulging in a few drinks we decided it was time for our photo shoot... with the sumos! The problem with taking photos with sumo wrestlers is that they are all very serious about their position and do not like to do anything in a photo besides stand very still and try to look intimidating.　This makes it very hard for tourists such as Casey and I who really just want one crazy photo. I think this is evident in all of our photos! (HAHA... I'm surprised we have not been banned from sumo yet!)

Saturday evening 16 of us headed to a "nice" Italian restaurant in the heart of Fukuoka. For approximately $26 we had all-you-can-drink and eat for 2 or 3 hours. It was fabulous! (The 'nomihoudai' or all-you-can-drink is one of the advantages of living in a country where the majority of its citizens can't handle their booze... the restaurants actually think they can make a profit off of this!) The rest of the night consisted of yet another 'nomihoudai' at the bar, and dancing til our feet hurt. Great night!

Sunday, hmmmm... Sunday was a little more than rough! The bus was outside our hotel at 9am and ready to drive us to Spaceworld, but we were unable to leave until 10am because we were missing a certain someone who didn't quite make it back to the hotel. After numerous phone calls we managed to locate him... in a love hotel!!!! Hahah... scandalous boy! No more 'nomihoudai's for him!

Next stop, Spaceworld! Spaceworld is a space-themed adventure park inclusive of roller coasters, space food, and a space museum. I wasn't quite feeling up for the roller coasters, but those who did manage to brave them had a great time!

Overall, I would have to say that it was a very successful weekend!

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